The semiconductor industry has experienced rapid growth due to continuous improvements in the integration density of a variety of electronic components (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.). For the most part, this improvement in integration density has come from repeated reductions in minimum feature size, which allows more components to be integrated into a given area.
As feature size continues to shrink, tolerance for dust particles in the production environment (e.g., dust on the wafer surfaces) may decrease. In advanced process technologies, small dust particles may cause device defect and lower production yield.